I haven't really been covering immigration lately, but this awful Arizona law dovetails into what we've been discussing with regards to the Republicans essentially screwing themselves. Over and over and over. The "Keep going, Republicans! You're doing great!" meme.
Let there be no doubt. The Republican radicalism on immigration (not to mention their on-going Southern Strategy) has everything to do with sandbagging against the inevitable. In short:
• The Latino population, already the nation's largest minority group, will triple in size and will account for most of the nation's population growth from 2005 through 2050. Hispanics will make up 29% of the U.S. population in 2050, compared with 14% in 2005.
• The non Hispanic white population will increase more slowly than other racial and ethnic groups; whites will become a minority (47%) by 2050.
So rather than embracing the growing latino/non-white population, the Republicans are only succeeding in limiting their own numbers -- while fooling themselves into believing that by cracking down on latinos, they're hanging onto a white America.
They're very, very wrong.
And I think it's fantastic. Now the Democrats have to do something brave and noble on immigration and they will have secured the skyrocketing non-white vote for decades to come.
Adding... What the hell is Ed Schultz saying about deploying troops from Iraq along the border? Oy. Not helpful, sir.